Adding student contacts is crucial for setting up brightwheel. A student's contact list determines which guardians will have access to their profile, what level of access, and how they can interact with their student and the program.
Administrators, Managers, and Lead Staff can choose from four Contact Types: Parent, Family, Approved Pickup, or Emergency Contact. Each Contact Type has different permissions.
🚩Those with Staff and Billing Only permissions cannot invite, add or remove student contacts.
View Student Contacts
The student contact list gives programs complete visibility and control over which parents, family members, approved pickups, and emergency contacts are connected to a child in brightwheel.
💡 Not sure who can see a student's profile? The contact list shows who has access and their level of access. To completely disconnect a parent or family member from the child and ensure they cannot view the profile, remove them as a contact. If they're not listed as a contact, they won't be able to see the profile.
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Add New Student Contacts
When first setting up brightwheel, there are two options for adding student contacts with their email, or phone number:
Upload in Bulk: The fastest and most convenient way to add student information is through our easy Roster Upload Tool
Add Manually by Student: To learn how to add these contacts manually, follow the steps outlined below
View the specific contact types and their associated permissions as needed.
🚩 Parents, Family, and Approved Pickup contacts are authorized to log in to brightwheel to create their own account and check students in/out. There is no way to prevent these three contact types from being authorized to check a student in/out.
For more information on contact types and permissions, review the resource linked above.
Add Parent Contacts
On the Web | On the App |
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Add Family Contacts
On the Web | On the App |
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Add Approved Pickup Contacts
On the Web | On the App |
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Add Emergency Contacts
Please be aware that Emergency contacts require only a name and phone number and are not invited to create brightwheel accounts and cannot check a student in/out. They are listed on the student's profile for emergency purposes only.
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💡 When adding a contact, such as parent or family member, its highly recommended to enter either an email address OR a mobile number to minimize errors. Contacts can add additional contact information later after they set up their account.
Additional Insights on Student Contacts
Additional Insights on Student Contacts
For student contacts who are also staff members, refer to our resource on Using brightwheel as a Student Contact and Staff Member for setup instructions.
Mobile numbers must be valid US or Canadian numbers.
Student contacts can be added with just their name but won't receive invitations until an email or phone number is provided
Add Contacts to Siblings
Once the contact is listed on one student profile, they are considered an Existing Contact in your system. To link that student contact to siblings, or additional student profiles, they should be added using the Existing Contact flow. This lists them with the same information across all profiles, which allows them to view multiple children from one brightwheel account.
Log in to brightwheel on the web
Click on My School
Open the Students page
Select a student by clicking on their name
Scroll down to the Contacts section and click + Add a contact
Jump to the Existing tab in the pop-up
💡The contact must first be listed on one student profile at the program before they can be added as an existing contact to subsequent students.Select relationship of the student contact to that student
Select or type the desired contact name from the drop-down list
Click Save Contact
ℹ️ Parents already connected to a student's profile will receive an email notification when a new contact is added to their child for transparency and security.
💡 If a contact is missing a sibling or additional student profile, ensure their contact information matches exactly on each profile. If not, remove and re-add them as an Existing Contact to ensure they can see all their children.
Add Contacts Switching to a New Provider
It's common for student contacts to have already registered for brightwheel and have an existing account if their child attended a previous program, or currently attends multiple programs using brightwheel.
Student contacts and parents can be connected to profiles from multiple programs at once, so no changes are needed from the other program. If a parent created another account elsewhere, they can be added as a contact to connect their account to any new program. To connect them to a student profile at your program, either share their child's unique 10-digit code OR add them with the exact same contact information that's already associated with their current account.
ℹ️ If parents want to remove old student profiles from their account, they can take steps to Remove a Student's Profile.
💡Contacts can verify their account information by tapping the three horizontal lines in the top left corner of the app > selecting Edit Profile to view their email address and/or phone number
Edit a Student Contact
If a contact has not activated their brightwheel account, the program can edit their email, or phone number in brightwheel.
Log in to brightwheel on the web
Click to open the My School menu option and select Parents
Jump to the applicable tab at the top of page: Parents, Family, or Approved Pickups based on the contact's type
Locate the student and their related contacts
Click the ✎ icon next to the contact's name
Update the needed contact information
Click Save Contact
ℹ️ Once a contact signs up for brightwheel with an email address or phone number, programs cannot change the contact's name, email, or phone number any further; the contact controls their own information and can update it in their profile. However, at anytime, Admins, Managers, and Lead Staff can remove a contact if their account information was entered incorrectly (i.e., typo in the email address) and needs to be re-added with the correct information
Update Student Contact Type
Programs can adjust a student contacts user type if selected incorrectly (i.e., Family contact that actually needed to be a Parent contact).
Log in to brightwheel on the web
Click on My School and open the Students page
Select a student by clicking on their name
Scroll down to the Contacts section
Click Edit in top right corner of the pane
Click Update on the appropriate contact's row
Use the Contact Type dropdown to select what's needed
Click Save Contact
Remove a Contact
Student contacts can be removed from a student's profile by Administrators, Managers, Lead Staff members, or Parent contacts with edit permissions. Removing a student contact severs the association with the student but does not delete their brightwheel account; they can still log in to view associated students or see a blank page with the brightwheel logo if no other connections exist.
💡 If a student contact is wanting to deactivate/delete their account completely, encourage them to contact brightwheel Support for further assistance.
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Troubleshoot Contact Errors
Contacts in a student's profile must be added and modified carefully to ensure the security of the student's personal information. It is common to receive an error message when adding, or modifying a contact if the instructions outlined above are not followed. While most issues are easily resolved following the guidance below, contacting our support team may be necessary for deactivating old or duplicate accounts.
Error Message | Why this happens | How to correct it |
The phone number and email belong to different accounts in brightwheel. | This error indicates that there is a mismatch between the email address and mobile phone number entered. This may mean that the contact has two accounts, one with their phone number and one with their email address. | If you can't add a contact and you are attempting to add both an email and phone number, try adding the contact with ONLY their email address, or ONLY their phone number to see if this helps. Next advise the student contact to contact brightwheel Support for assistance with deactivating the account tied to either their phone number, or email so they can add it to their active account. |
[Contact name] is already a contact for [Student name].
| This indicates that the contact being added is already added as a contact for that student. | If the intent is to change the contact type, simply edit the student contact's profile and choose the desired contact type. |
This email belongs to a teacher account. Please use a different email to create their parent account. | This means that the email address of the contact being added is already associated with a staff/teacher account. |
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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Why does it say the contact information already exists when I attempt add, or update the email/phone number for a student contact?
Why does it say the contact information already exists when I attempt add, or update the email/phone number for a student contact?
It could be the student contact has an existing account they are not aware of, preventing you from making changes. If the guardian account is already activated, please note only the student contact is authorized to make changes to their contact information.
The program, or student contact can reach out to brightwheel Support for help in consolidating any duplicate accounts.